Rocky Hill-RHAM-Middletown Hockey Team Beats E.O. Smith-Tolland-Windham, 3-1

Goals from Brendon Quirion and Kyle Whalen and great defense from goalie Andrew Blakeslee helped propel the Rocky Hill-RHAM-Middletown hockey team to 3-1 win over E.O. Smith-Tolland-Windham Wednesday night.

In the first period, head coach Sean Cole said R-M-R "played horribly" but they got out to an early lead after a goal by Quirion. Whalen assisted on the score.

"It may have been first game jitters," said Cole, who is in his second year with the team.

E.O. Smith-Tolland-Windham team would answer back with a goal in the first period. However, R-M-R took over the game and had 30 shots on net, which was almost double their opponent’s shots of 18. Blakeslee was able to stop five odd-man rushes of which three were breakaways.

Whalen would add a goal of his own and Quirion scored his second of the night in the third period to help lead R-M-R to the victory. Whalen assisted on both Quirion's goals and Quirion assisted on Whalen's score. Senior captain Matthew Tavani also had two assists on the night.

Cole expects Quirion and Whalen, who are both Rocky Hill residents, to have 40-point seasons as long as they stay healthy. Quirion had 23 points and Whalen had 43 points last year.

R-M-R is expected to play a tougher schedule this year but Cole hopes to compete for the conference title and make the state tournament. The team will have to stay healthy because they only have 12 skaters and three goalies.

"We have no depth," Cole said. "We should be competitive."

The team, which returns six seniors, will only have three nights of ice time and will focus on conditioning. Days off the ice, the team will work on footwork and other drills.

"We have to be better conditioned to stay healthy," Cole said. "We are going to be more efficient with our ice time."

The Rocky Hill-RHAM-Middletown will play Hall-Southington at Veteran's Memorial Rink at 1 p.m. on Saturday. E.O. Smith-Tolland-Windham will play Rockville-Manchester-Stafford at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum on the University of Connecticut campus at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Editor's Note: Did you attend the game? Send us pictures of the action and we will run them on Rocky Hill Patch. All pictures can be emailed to Joseph.Wenzel@patch.com.